Comment by simoncion

If you pay attention, you see that the cost to large companies of reputational damage is very, very small. "The public" has short memories, companies tend to think only about the next quarter or two, PR flacks are often very convincing to Management, and -IME- it takes a lot of shit for an enterprise to move away from a big vendor.

And, those who are pay attention notice that the fines and penalties for big companies that screw the little guys are often next-to-nothing when compared with that big company's revenue. In other words, these punishments are often "cost of doing business" expenses, rather than actual deterrents.

So, yeah. Add into all that a healthy dose of "How would anyone but the customers with the deepest pockets ever get enough money to prove such a contract violation in court?", and you end up a profound lack of trust.